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PROSTITUTION

25% of female inmates engaged in prostitution

Every fourth woman in Sweden's prisons has at some point in her life been engaged in prostitution, Sveriges Radio's Ekot news service reported on Monday.

In addition, one out of 10 female inmates are vulnerable to become victims of human trafficking, according to a study by the Prison and Probation Service, Ekot reported.

Around 300 women are in prison in Sweden every year. Jenny Yourstone Cederwall, who conducted the study, told the programme that many of those who have sold sex frequently early in life have been sexually abused.

“These women have often early in their lives been victims of sexual abuse to a greater extent than female criminals in general,” Yourstone Cederwall told Ekot. “They also have more difficult addiction abuse problems, for example.”

As such, it is important to develop treatment programs to help them. This is the first time that the service has examined the female prisoners’ backgrounds. The hope is that the study will lead to better treatment programs for female inmates.

According to Yourstone Cederwall, it is important to distinguish these women from male inmates as well as other female prisoners, for their needs regarding assistance and rehabilitation are different.

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PROSTITUTION

Spain’s top court reinstates first sex workers’ union

Spanish sex workers have the right to form their own union, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, overturning an earlier court decision ordering the dissolution of Spain's first such labour organisation.

Spain's top court reinstates first sex workers' union
Photo: Oscar del Pozo/AFP

Known as OTRAS (or “the Sex Workers’ Organisation”), the union was discretely set up in August 2018 but was closed three months later by order of the National Court following an appeal by the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

But following an appeal, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of OTRAS, saying that its statutes, which had triggered the initial legal challenge, were “in line with the law” and that sex workers “have the fundamental right to freedom of association and the right to form a union”.

In its November 2018 ruling, the National Court had argued that allowing the union to exist amounted to “recognising the act of procurement as lawful”.

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Contacted by AFP, the union did not wish to comment.

When it was founded, OTRAS received the green light from the labour ministry and its statutes were publicly registered in the official gazette the day before the government went into a summer recess.

But three weeks later, the government — which portrays itself as “feminist and in favour of the abolition of prostitution” according to Sanchez’s Twitter feed at the time — started legal moves against it.

In Spain, prostitution is neither legal nor illegal but it is tolerated.

Although it is not recognised as employment, there is a large number of licensed brothels throughout the country.

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